1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method for performing various kinds of processing on the basis of setting for various kinds of processing such as copying, facsimile transmission, scanning, or image filing.
2. Description of the Related Art
As it is well known, in recent years, there is an image forming apparatus that has plural functions such as a copy function, a facsimile function, a scanner function, a printer function, or an image filing function. Such an image forming apparatus is connected to, for example, an arbitrary number of personal computers (hereinafter referred to as PCs) and the outside via a network. Therefore, it is possible to capture data, which is captured by the image forming apparatus, into the PCs and transmit the data to the outside.
Conventionally, in the image forming apparatus that has plural functions such as a copy function, a facsimile function, a scanner function, a printer function, or an image filing function, a control panel is provided. A user performs various kinds of setting on the control panel. The user is also capable of applying the same setting as the setting on the control panel of the image forming apparatus such as conversion of a file format and instruction of copying to data stored in the image forming apparatus from a PC of a user.
Since such an image forming apparatus is connected to the arbitrary number of PCs via the network, the image forming apparatus receives print jobs for requesting printing from the respective PCs and sequentially processes plural print jobs received.
JP-A-2003-196056 discloses a constitution in which a printer receives, for one job, information such as image data from an application server, receives page control information such as output resolution and the number of prints from a client computer connected to the printer via a network, and combines the information and the page control information in the printer.
However, in the invention disclosed in JP-A-2003-196056, two interfaces, that is, an interface for transferring image data and an interface for transferring page control information are provided between the printer and a print controller. However, only information of one print job can be shared between the printer and the print controller. Thus, deletion of a job put in queuing by the controller cannot be performed from the printer side.